“It is the gain of the deathless, child. What is the value of the mortal residue to that?”
“So, after all, you think I cannot love like you?”
“O, I would prove my love, no more than that—even to this last renunciation! Do you fear? Then, I say, it is not too late yet to draw back.”
She gave a little gasp, and would have withdrawn from him; but he caught at her hands and held them fast.
“Isabel!”
“O!” she said despairingly, “after all that has been between us.”
“Listen to me. It is only to free you if you will, so that free you can choose.”
“How can you hurt me so, when you say you love me? I would not be so cruel to my love.”
“O, child, child! cannot you understand?”
She gazed at him a moment with impassioned eyes; then let herself slip once more into his arms.